Crouching Knuckles, Hidden Shadow
by anythingbutmyoriginal
Summary: Sonic, Tails, Amy, Rouge, Chaotix, Omega, Big, and Cream get kidnapped by Eggman and the only ones left to save them are Knuckles and Shadow. Will they be able to defeat Eggman and save their friends? Or will they be destroyed?
1. The Beginning of an Adventure

**Chapter 1: Beginning of an Adventure**

Knuckles was running as fast as possible away from his enemy. He was being chased by Dr. Eggman in his hover ball thing while in the desert at the edge of a cliff.

"Surrender, Knuckles! I have already captured your friends!" Eggman persuaded.

"Stay away from me! I will defeat you using the Master Emerald if you continue to chase me!" Knux said as he dodged a blast from Eggman.

"Impossible." Eggman said with a smirk. "I've already captured it by using Rouge! I've brainwashed her along with your other friends!"

"You don't have Shadow!" Knux said as he ducked from a blast.

"Shadow will not help you! No one even knows where he is except himself!" Eggman explained.

"I will find a way to defeat you and save my friends, Eggman!" Knuckles said as he dove to the left down the cliff. He disappeared from view and landed in a river.

He got out of the water and stood there for a second.

"How could Eggman do all that to us? He's never been able to do that before. He had to have help. And I need to find Shadow because I can't save the world by myself." Knux asked himself.

Knux started running again and made it to an abandoned G.U.N transport. He got in and activated it.

"I hope I can pilot this thing." Knuckles said as the transport flew into the air.

He didn't pilot that good as it kept swerving but luckily there was nothing in his way so he didn't collide with anything. He made it to Metal City and landed. He got out and saw that it was night so not many people were out.

"The only thing I know about Shadow's location is that he is somewhere in Metal City. I'm here so where should I begin searching?"

Knux walked into an alley and he was suddenly knocked out. When he woke up he saw a dark hedgehog figure fighting a machine created by Eggman. The figure finished the machine off with a Chaos Blast.

"Shadow!" Knuckles screamed.

"Yes. And I will help you on your quest to find Sonic and his friends and defeat Eggman." Shadow said mysteriously.

"What? Why?" Knuckles asked confusingly.

"I will help you for reasons I cannot say. But let us depart from Metal City and find where Eggman is." Shadow answered.

_To be continued…_


	2. Hypno Sonic

**Chapter 2: Hypno Sonic**

"So Shadow, where are we heading?" Knuckles asked Shadow while he was piloting the transport.

"Station Square." Shadow answered quickly and softly.

"Why?"

"There have been sightings of a blue hedgehog stealing things. That's gotta be the brainwashed Sonic."

"We can find him and figure out where Eggman's base is!" Knuckles exclaimed. "Great plan!"

They continued flying the transport for a few hours until Shadow said "We're arriving in Station Square now."

Shadow landed the transport on a landing pad and they jumped off the small building it was on.

"Where should we start looking?" Knux asked Shadow.

Before Shadow could answer a wall blew open and there stood the brainwashed Sonic. The only physical difference was that the hypnotized Sonic had red eyes.

"Sonic!" Knux screamed. "Don't be evil! Fight the hypnosis that Eggman put on you!"

"Surrender or be destroyed!" Sonic screamed at both of the heroes.

"I'll enjoy this." Shadow said as he smirked and got ready for combat.

"I don't want to do this to you, Sonic. But it looks like I have to!" Knux said as he, too, got ready for combat.

Sonic ran at them and jumped into the air. He came down with a kick towards Shadow. Shadow sidestepped and punched Sonic in the face. Knux also did a one two punch at Sonic which knocked him into the hole that he made in the wall. He came back out and ran at Knux. Knuckles jumped on top of the building and Sonic followed.

"Give up, echidna!" Sonic screamed.

"Never!" Knux screamed back.

Sonic jumped at Knuckles and punched him in the face. He kicked him in the chin and roundhouse kicked him off the building on the opposite side of Shadow.

Sonic jumped off the building at Shadow and punched and kicked at him. Shadow dodged and jumped way back. "Chaos Spear!"

Shadow shot the chaos energy at Sonic. It hit him and knocked him through the building all the way to the other side. Knux tried to punch him but he spin dashed into Knux's head which knocked him out.

"Let's finish this, Shadow!" Sonic said running at him.

Shadow ran at Sonic when they were both at the edge of the building they did a flying kick at each other. They both collided and blood drew on both of them.

"You are good, Shadow. But I am better. Much, much better."

Sonic ran at Shadow and jumped high into the air and came down. Shadow jumped up to stop him but to Shadow's surprise Sonic teleported under him and kicked him on top of the building.

"How… how did you do that?" Shadow asked Sonic with blood pouring.

Sonic didn't answer but pulled out a chaos emerald.

"Aha! That's it! So you have a Chaos emerald, huh? Chaos powers vs. chaos powers. Chaos Blast!"

Shadow shot the blast but it collided with a chaos blast that Sonic unleashed from the emerald. Their blasts struggled with each other until the blasts exploded hitting Sonic, Shadow, and their surroundings.

Shadow got up from the debris before Sonic and used a Chaos spear in hopes of destroying Sonic now. Sonic used Chaos control to get behind Shadow and blast him using his own Chaos spear.

"I'll destroy you, Shadow!" Sonic screamed as he ran at Shadow.

Shadow ran at Sonic too and they both homing attack each other continuously and kept getting higher and higher into the air. They were really high in the air when Sonic finally caught Shadow unprepared and hit him when he wasn't homing in on Sonic. Shadow fell to the ground. But then Sonic realized that he was also falling.

"You've doomed both of us, Sonic!" Shadow screamed as he and Sonic were falling to their death.

Right before Shadow hit the ground he was caught… by Knuckles. Sonic wasn't so lucky and he hit the ground hard.

"Sonic!" Knuckles screamed in fear. "I didn't want this to happen to Sonic."

Just then Sonic got back up.

"What? Impossible!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Hahahahahahah!" Sonic cackled. "This body can sustain a lot of damage before it is destroyed thanks to the training offered by Dr. Eggman. You will both now be destroyed."

"Give up, Sonic! It's two against one! There is no way you can win!" Knux said with a fist.

"Foolish echidna! You will be destroyed."

Sonic homing attacked Knux and tried to do it to Shadow but Shadow dodged and countered with a punch. Sonic dodged this but not Knuckles' kick to his face. Shadow then Chaos blasted Sonic and Knux spin kicked him in to the air. Sonic landed in pain. This time Sonic didn't get up but he was still conscious.

"Tell us where Eggman's base is!" Shadow demanded.

"I don't… know." Sonic said barely conscious.

"Yes you do! Now tell us!" Knux demanded.

"I… am telling… the truth. Tails… knows." Sonic told them.

"Where is Tails?" Shadow interrogated.

"He is in… Mystic… Ruins." Sonic finished right as he lost consciousness.

"Damn!" Shadow yelled. "We have to find Tails now."

_To be continued._


	3. Mystic Kangaroo

**Chapter 3: Mystic Kangaroo**

Shadow and Knuckles headed back to the transport when they discovered it was gone.

"No!" Knux screamed in anger. "Our transport is gone!"

"Damnit! Now we have to take the slow train!" Shadow grumbled.

"We should probably get some rest before we go to Mystic Ruins, though." Knuckles suggested.

"Sleep would be good." Shadow admitted.

So they went to the hotel and went to sleep for the night. Knuckles woke up early and went out to the pool. He jumped in.

"Nothing like an early morning swim." Knux said as he floated in the water.

He swam for a while until he got hungry. He went back inside and saw Shadow eating.

"Hey Shad! You're finally up!" Knux said as he joined him.

"Yes. So what? Don't make a big deal out of it. And as soon as we finish eating we need to leave immediately."

They finished eating and took the train to Mystic ruins. They rode for a couple of hours when they heard the speaker say "Now arriving in Mystic Ruins. Get ready to depart."

Knux and Shad walked off the train and walked up to a man that was panting.

"What happened to you?" Knux asked the man.

"Why do you ask that, Knuckles? He obviously was just running or exercising." Shadow answered.

"No." The man said. "I was on an expedition in the jungle when… when we were… attacked. Our attacker was some type of creature. It looked like a two tailed fox. It had red eyes and spoke in a deep, dark voice. It… it got my partners. I was the only one to escape."

"That's terrible!" Knuckles screamed.

"Yes, yes it is." The man agreed.

"So this was the hypnotized Tails, huh?" Shad asked himself. "Then Knuckles and I must head into the jungle and find Tails. He can lead us to Eggman."

"If you are truly going I wish you luck." The man said.

"Let's go, Shad!" Knux said as he ran to the jungle. He hopped in the cart with Shadow following behind. They went into the jungle and jumped off the cliff landing safely on the trees.

"This jungle sure had changed since I was last here." Knux said admiring the scenery.

"We don't have time to worry about that, Knuckles. We must find Tails."

Shadow and Knux ran on the trees for a little while until they were suddenly surrounded by Eggbots and some other machines of Eggman.

"Finally, some action." Shadow said with a smirk.

"Give up or die!" A robot said in a monotone voice.

"You should give up, machines!" Knux screamed.

"We are not programmed to surrender."

Everyone engaged in combat and fought fiercely. Knux was jumping and punching in the air while Shad was doing Homing attacks and kicks.

"We aren't doing any damage!" Knux screamed as he punched a robot.

"Eggman has upgraded his machines for us! It looks like I'll have to use Chaos powers!" Shadow assumed.

Shadow did Chaos Blast but the machines were virtually unhurt.

"What? They are still here after my Chaos Blast?" Shad asked confusingly.

"How can we beat these things?" Knux asked in fear.

"You can't." A robot said as he blasted Shadow off the treetops. Shadow hit the ground and got knocked unconscious.

"Now it is up to me!" Knux said with fire in his eyes. But he too, was blasted off the treetops. But when he hit the ground, however, he was still conscious but just barely.

The robots flew down to where Knux and Shad were.

"This is the end for me." Knux said as he closed his eyes as the lead Eggbot charged up a blast.

He heard the blast and lied there for a few seconds with his eyes closed. He though he'd be dead by now for sure. The blast wasn't that slow. So he opened his eyes and saw a kangaroo holding a chaos emerald with a blats coming from it. The blast was blocking the blast of the robot but he was still struggling where as the robot was just gaining more power every second.

"Thank you for saving me." Knux said as he pulled himself up. "Do you know of any weak spot on this bots?"

"Yes." The kangaroo replied. He was blue with green eyes. He was really tell and had lightning bolt tattoos on his arms. His hands were red and he had a short, stubby tail. "Their weakness is in between the eyes. Hit the leader there and I will destroy the rest."

"Okay." Knux said.

Knuckles walked over to the leader and punched him right in the weak spot. The leader blew up and the kangaroo's blats hit some other robots destroying them.

"Nice job!" The kangaroo said as he ran over too some Eggbots. He punched one and kicked another. He stabbed another with his tail. Knux was helping him destroy the robots.

They fought for a few minutes until they finished destroying the robots.

"Thanks, kangaroo." Knux said as he walked over to the kangaroo. "I'm Knuckles. You can call me Knux."

"Nice to meet you, Knuckles. Name's Sarroo Kanga. Let's go back to my hut and I'll give you some food. You look hungry. Get your friend, too."

Sarroo and Knux got Shadow and took him to Sarroo's hut. Knuckles started to chow down on the food Sarroo gave him. "This is delicious!" Knux screamed in between bites.

"That's what everyone says. Everyone likes my food. And it looks like your friend is coming to. What's his name anyway?"

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Eat some food, Shadow." Knuckles told him.

"Good idea."

Shadow began to chow down as well. They kept eating until Sarroo ran out of food.

"Sorry for eating all of your food, Sarroo." Knux apologized.

"No prob. I make more all the time. Now what are you doing in the jungle? Were you on an expedition?"

"Not really." Shadow answered. "We were looking for the hypnotized Miles "Tails" Prower."

"Is he a two tailed, orange fox with red eyes?" Sarroo asked curiously.

"Yes! That's it!" Knuckles screamed in happiness.

"Well, I have some bad news about that." Sarroo said. He then proceeded to whisper something to Shad and Knux.

"You mean we have to do what!" Knux asked.

_To be continued._


	4. GUN BreakIn

**Chapter 4: GUN Break-In**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic characters. I do own Sarroo Kanga and my other original characters that I will create.**

Knuckles and Shadow were standing at the entrance to a huge GUN military base.

"I can't believe that we have to break into the GUN base and find the brainwashed Tails while avoiding the military." Knux complained. "Why did he have to be captured?"

"Stop complaining, Knuckles. Let's just get this over with."

So Knux and Shad went into the base and snuck around a few guards.

"So what's our plan?" Knuckles asked Shadow when they got to an empty room.

"We go to the main security room and take out the guards silently. We bypass the security system and find where Tails is. We shut off the system that he is captured and allow him to escape. We find him and get the information about where Eggman's base is." Shadow answered.

"That sounds hard."

A soldier walked into that room and saw them two. He ran out and sounded the alarm.

"Damn!" Shadow screamed. "They found us. Run!"

Knuckles and Shadow started running as fast as they could taking out the guards they had to. They finally made it to the security room and took out the soldiers.

"Knuckles hold off the guard until I bypass the system and free Tails." Shadow ordered.

"Can do." Knuckles got into battle position and started attacking the soldiers before they could shoot.

"Stupid echidna! They should be extinct by now! He's the last member!" One of the soldiers complained right before he was punched in the head.

Knuckles was doing cool acrobatic moves and martial arts tricks to dodge attacks from the soldiers and counterattack.

"Hurry up, Shad! I can't hold them off much longer!"

More and more soldiers came rushing into that room and Knux was fighting them all. They eventually stopped coming and Knux took the ones out. But then a GUN mech came hovering in.

"Spider Troops R-7 Fire Flurry reporting for action, Commander." The man in the cockpit of the mech said to the commander through his radio.

"Oh great." Knux said sarcastically.

The Fire Flurry fired a flamethrower straight at Knuckles but he jumped aside. It then fired its gatling gun at Knuckles but he moved away from the blasts. He got close up and jumped and tried to punch the mech but a fist extended from its waist and nailed Knuckles right in the face knocking him way back.

"Hang on, Knuckles. I'm not done yet!" Shadow said.

"You try doing this!" Knux said as he dodged flame from the mech again.

"I've almost got him, Commander." The man in the cockpit said to the Commander again.

"No you don't!" Knuckles screamed as he jumped high into the air and came down with his fist. It nailed the mech right in the cockpit. It walked back a little but got back ready to fight in no time flat.

"I've almost got it finished, Knuckles. Just hang on a little longer and I'll help you when I'm done." Shadow encouraged Knux.

"I'm trying my best!"

Knux tried the same move but the mech hovered to the left and avoided the attack. It then fired its gatling gun again at Knux and it hit him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Knux screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.

"I've got him down, Commander. Now I just have to finish him."

The Fire Flurry walked up to Knuckles and got ready to fire. It did. But there was a red blur and Knuckles body was gone. Shadow had finished with the security and saved Knuckles just in time.

"Now I'll destroy you!" Shadow said as he unleashed a Chaos Spear at the machine. It activated a shield and protected itself from the blast. But the shield got deactivated.

The Fire Flurry shot flame at Shadow and Knux. They moved out of the way but it grazed them a b it and made them trip. The mech moved over to them and got in firing position. The next thing Shadow knew the mech blew up. When the smoke cleared Tails was standing right there.

"Tails!" Knuckles screamed in joy.

"Where is the Dr.'s base?" Shadow asked Tails.

"I'll never tell you!" He replied.

"Then we'll have to beat it out of you!" Knux said as he ran towards Tails.

Knuckles tried to punch Tails but Tails ducked and swiped Knux away with his tails.

"Ouch. That hurt." Knux said shaking the pain off.

"It's my turn now." Shad said as he jumped high into the air. He came down with a homing attack. Tails swiped him away. "Damn. He is tough. But I'll defeat him with this… CHAOS SPEAR!"

Shadow launched the purple spears towards Tails. They hit him dead on but he stood there without flinching.

"Weakling." Tails said as he threw bomb at Knux and Shad. It blew up and they flew sky high and went up two floors. Tails followed.

Tails walked over to them when GUN soldiers started firing at him.

"What?" Tails asked. He barely dodged the bullets and counterattacked the soldiers killing them. "Now to finish you two!" Tails looked over and Shadow was gone but Knuckles was still there lying unconscious. "Where is Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"Right here!" Shadow screamed as he jumped off the ceiling and landed on Tails with chaos energy surrounding him. Tails pushed him off and got up.

"What is that energy around you? Is that Chaos energy?" Tails asked.

"Yes it is chaos energy. It's a new move called Chaos Aura. Now I'll defeat you with it!"

Shadow ran and spin dashed at Tails. Tails swiped him away but got hurt himself. "Ow! Why did that hurt?"

"My Chaos Aura. Anyone who makes contact with it feels pain! So I'll destroy you!"

Shadow tackled Tails and lied on him inflicting Tails more pain every second. He tried to push Shad off but he was too injured.

"Yes. Feel the pain! Feel the agony!" Shadow said.

"Get off… of…. ME!" Tails said as he got a burst of energy and threw Shadow off. "I guess I'll have to destroy you with this!" Tails told Shadow as he pulled out a chaos emerald.

"A Chaos emerald!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Yes. And it will be your doom!"

Tails charged up a powerful blast with the chaos emerald. Shadow never knew the emerald wielded that kind of power.

"Now it is time to die!" Tails said as he got ready to fire the blast. But just before he did, it was swiped away from him by Knuckles.

"Fire the blast at Tails, Knuckles!" Shadow ordered.

"Alright. Nothing to lose."

Knux unleashed the blast from the Chaos Emerald and it was clear to hit Tails but right before it hit him he teleported away.

"What? How did he do that?" Shadow and Knux both asked.

Tails appeared behind Shadow and kicked him in the head. He revealed a second Chaos Emerald.

"He has two emeralds?" Knux asked. "Well oh well. I'll use this to attack you. I wonder if I know how."

"No Knuckles!" Shadow exclaimed when he got up. "Pass it to me! I can add it to my power and defeat him!"

Knuckles threw it but Tails leaped and grabbed it. "Thank you for returning my emerald. Now you both will be destroyed! Chaos BLAST!"

The blast of chaos energy filled the room and hit Shad and Knux. They fell to the ground injured. Shadow struggled but he finally got up.

"I'll defeat you, Tails. You can count on it." Shadow said in a whisper caused by his injuries.

Shadow used Chaos Control and appeared behind Tails in the blink of an eye. But when he tried to attack, Tails was gone. Shadow immediately elbowed behind him and hit Tails in the gut.

"You saw through my plan." Tails said holding his gut in pain.

"Easily."

Shadow then warped in front of Tails but Tails turned around because he thought Shadow was coming behind him. Shadow spin dashed him away. Tails got up and shot several Chaos Spears towards Shadow. They hit him and he fell to the ground. But then Tails was hit from behind.

"Who is there?" Tails asked himself.

When he turned around he saw Knuckles. Then Shadow hit him from behind and Knux hit him back. They kept hitting him back and forth.

"Release me at once!" Tails demanded. "I am not a ping pong ball!"

"You are now!" Knux said as he punched him back to Shadow.

"This is actually fun." Shadow said as he kicked Tails to Knuckles.

"Well if you two continue to do this I will tell you why Shadow is helping you, Knuckles." Tails said with a grin from ear to ear.

"What? Why?" Knuckles said.

Tails began to open his mouth to speak but then Shadow said "No!" and knocked him out with a powerful and quick kick.

"Why are you helping me, Shad?" Knux asked.

"That I can't tell you. Now let's search this fox and see if we can find Eggman's base."

Shad and Knux searched but found nothing that would lead to Eggman's base.

"I can't find any info on where Eggman's base is but I found where the brainwashed Amy is." Knux said. "She will probably know where Eggman is. So let's go!"

_To be continued._


	5. Driller

**Chapter 5: Driller**

"So seeya, Sarroo. We've got to be going now." Knuckles said as they were leaving Sarroo Kanga's hut.

"Wait. I can provide you transport back to Mystic Ruins." Sarroo told them.

"You can?" Shad asked.

"Yes. This is a Teleportation Ring." Sarroo said pulling a giant power ring from his closet. "Just jump in here and it will teleport you to Mystic Ruins. I have a teleportation ring there too."

"Alright. Let's go Shad."

Knux and Shadow used the ring and instantly got back to Mystic Ruins.

"That felt peculiar." Shadow said as he looked around. The ground started to shake. "What's happening?"

"I don't know!" Knuckles shouted as he almost fell down. "I think it's an earthquake!"

But then the point of something came from the ground. It was spinning fast and it was shiny silver.

"I think it is a drill!" Shadow screamed as he lost his balance and fell. He got back up.

"Yeah you're right." Knux said.

The drill was coming up from the ground and the rumbling of it got louder. The whole in the ground got larger and the drill came fully out of the ground. The drill stopped spinning and it was connected to a black vehicle of some sort.

"It belongs to the Dr." Shadow said as he pointed to the Eggman insignia on the side of the vehicle.

But then a voice came from the inside of the drill. "Give up, Shadow, and come with me!"

"That doesn't sound like Eggman." Knuckles said.

"That's not Eggman… that's Driller." Shadow responded.

"If you won't surrender, Shadow, I'll destroy you!" Driller screamed from inside the drill.

"I'm going to pummel you!" Knuckles said as he ran at the drill and started to attack it. "I'm not doing any damage!"

"My custom drill is invincible!" Driller screamed Knuckles' futile attempts to destroy his machine.

"For Knuckles maybe but not for me. CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shot twelve chaos spears at the machine. Smoke surrounded it and when it cleared, the machine was still unhurt.

"It is invincible for anything!" Driller yelled again.

Nothing is unstoppable. Everything has a weak point." Knux stated.

"Not this! This drill is flawless!"

"I don't know about that." Shadow said with a smirk.

"You are planning something, hedgehog." Driller saw. "But I can't tell what. But whatever it is it won't work!"

Driller started up the drill again and moved it quickly towards Shad and Knux.

"Look out! It's coming right for us!" Knux said as he jumped out the way. Shadow just stood there with his arms crossed in a cool way. "Come on, Shad! You're gonna get killed!'

Shadow still stood there. Knuckles ran up to Shadow and tried to pull him out of the way but he pushed him off.

"What are you doing Shadow! It'll destroy you!" Knuckles screamed.

"Yes. Stand there, Shadow. I'll destroy you if you stand there." The Driller said as he cackled.

The drill kept moving closer and closer to Shadow but right before it hit him it stopped.

"I knew it." Shad said with a smirk. "The doctor gave you orders to capture me alive and without any exception not dead. So killing me would be against the doctor's orders and you can't do that can you?"

"You are right. But how did you know that?" Driller asked.

"Well I did a little snooping in Metal City."

"Well that's a turn of events." Knux said in awe.

"Well Shadow. Are you just going to not fight?" Driller asked another question.

"Exactly." Shad said with his arms still crossed.

"Well then it'll be easy to capture you alive!" Driller screamed as he pressed a button and gas came from his machine. It surrounded Shadow and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Shadow!" Knuckles screamed as the gas engulfed him too. But he fought it. He held his breath so he didn't breathe the gas and he grabbed Shadow's body and ran. Driller followed in his drill close behind.

"You aren't fast enough to avoid me and my gas, Knuckles!" Driller screamed.

Driller was gaining on Knuckles and fast. _I'm not fast enough,_ Knuckles thought.

But he was for the moment. He was still ahead of the drill but he knew he would have to breathe soon. But if he did he would pass out and probably killed and Shad would be captured. Knux couldn't let that happen. Right as the drill was about to catch him he experienced adrenaline and took off running quickly. He left Driller in the dust. He stopped when it was safe and took deep breaths.

A few minutes later, Shadow awoke. "What happened?" Shad asked Knux.

"Well, Driller activated gas from his machine and it knocked you out. I picked you up and ran all the way here miles from where the battle was. I held my breath the entire time." Knux explained.

Wow." Shadow replied. "Well we should get going to Nightmare City to find the hypnotized Amy."

_To be continued._


	6. The Return of Hypno Sonic

**Chapter 6: The Return of Hypno Sonic**

**Disclaimer: Sonic characters don't belong to me. They belong to Sega. Blade the Mouse also doesn't belong to me. He belongs to Kindom Rider92.**

Shadow and Knuckles were on the train to Station Square. Knux was looking out the window admiring the scenery.

"Where is Nightmare City?" He asked Shadow.

"Somewhere near Central City. The only way to get to it is from some secret entrance that is located in Central City." Shad answered.

"So we get to Station Square, from there we go to Central City, and then ask around about the secret entrance to Nightmare City?" Knux asked.

"Correct." Shadow stated.

"We will soon be stopping at Station. Get ready to depart." The voice said with a beep as it signed off.

"Well look's like it's time to get off the train." Knux said as he hopped up out of his seat and exited the train. Shad followed.

They walked around looking for a way to Central City when the transport that they had before it disappeared landed. Out came Sonic.

"It's the brainwashed Sonic!" Knuckles screamed.

"How did you survive!" Shadow asked in anger.

"I faked passing out so you would leave. Then I got up and ran quickly to the transport and flew away before you got there. Now I'm heading to Central City to take it over! Danger awaits you both there!" Sonic told them as he jumped back into the transport and started take off.

"No!" Knux screamed. Right before the transport got out of reach Knuckles jumped up and grabbed on to it. Shadow didn't jump and the transport flew away with Knux clinging on to it for dear life.

"Damn that Knuckles. I can't find what I'm looking for alone! I have to find transport to Central City ASAP." Shadow muttered. He then ran to find a way to get to Central City without running the whole way.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was still hanging on to the transport. Sonic noticed this and started swerving and looping in mid air to try to shake Knux off.

"Damnit! Get off!" Sonic screamed angrily as he barrel rolled the transport.

"Woah!" Knux screamed. He was having the time for his life. "This is so awesome! But it'll suck if I let go!"

Shadow finally found that Gun was about to launch a military jet into the skies on a reconnaissance mission to find something. Before the pilot boarded Shadow hopped in and said "Thanks for the jet!" Then he took off.

"What…. Just happened here?" The pilot said as he watched his jet fly away.

A few minutes later Sonic landed in Central City. It was now nigh time. He exited the transport and Knuckles was standing right in front of him. Sonic looked at the scenery. He landed on the ground in the middle of a circle formed by skyscrapers. Light were everywhere and he noticed a neon sign that had the words _Get yourself a burger at Mr. Pizza's Burger Shack _lit up in blue.

"So are we going to fight yet or what?" Knux asked at the Sonic who wasn't paying attention.

"Oh yes. Sorry about that. Let's begin shall we?" Sonic screamed as he ran at Knuckles and uppercut him into a nearby pole.

"Dang. That freaking hurt." Knux said as he shrugged off the pain and ran at Sonic.

He started punching and kicking at Sonic but Sonic easily dodged all of his attacks. He dodged an extremely fast jab from Knux and countered with a quick and simple spin dash to Knuckles' stomach and knocked him back but he didn't fall.

"Ow." Knux said as he looked like he was about to puke. "That hurt worse than the pole. I really need Shadow to get here fast."

"That's what you get for following me!" Sonic screamed as he homing attacked Knux into a car.

It dented the hood and Knuckles fell off. The owner of the car rushed out and yelled "Hey! My car!" But he immediately ran away when he saw the brainwashed Sonic.

"Well, Sonic, it seems I'm going to half to fight you with my full power!" Knux said.

Knuckles ran at Sonic and kicked him in the shin.

"Ouch!" Sonic said as he grabbed his shin. "I'm going to freaking kill y-." Before he could finish Knux replied with a kick to the jaw which made Sonic fly back.

He got back up quickly and ran at Knuckles and poked him in the eyes. He then uppercut him in the jaw once more which sent him flying.

"Cheap shot!" Knux screamed.

"Well at least I didn't kick you in the shin!" Sonic yelled at Knuckles.

"Let's just continue the fighting."

Knuckles and Sonic charged again and fought each other and connected with each blow. But they kept on attacking. Knuckles made a fairly powerful blow to the eye and Sonic grunted in pain. He stopped attacking and Knuckles hit him with a flurry. It knocked him back. He stood up and charged at Knuckles. They started exchanging blows again until they both jumped back. They fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"I'll… destroy you…. Knuckles." Sonic said in between pants.

"Not if I destroy… you… first." Knux replied also in the middle of pants.

They both struggled to get and but Sonic fell. Right when Knuckles was about to get up he fell back down. They both kept struggling for the next few minutes. They finally got up.

"Now let's fight again." Knuckles said.

They both walked up to each other and fought fiercely again. They dodged each other's blows and countered. But they kept blocking and dodging all blows until Knux connected with one which led to many others.

"Damn you, echidna. Damn you to hell!" Sonic screamed as he charged at Knuckles again.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the skies above Earth, GUN sent jets after Shadow, the jet jacker. Shadow saw them in his radar and they started firing at him.

"Oh Damnit!" Shadow screamed as he spun to dodge the blasts from the enemy jets. He swooped down low and let them pass. Then he stared firing at them and picking them off one by one. Finally there was one left. It turned around and flew at Shadow's jet.

"A game of chicken, huh? I never lose at this." Shadow smirked.

The jets flew at each other and they were about to collide when the enemy pilot swerved out of the way.

"Is he crazy?" The pilot asked himself.

"Now you die!" Shadow screamed as he fired at the jet. It exploded, killing the pilot.

He kept flying taking out GUN ships the next few minutes until he arrived at Central City.

Meanwhile, down at Central City Sonic was knocked back. "You've won this battle but I will return!"

Sonic jumped into the transport but right before in took off Shadow landed the jet on it crushing it down to as flat as a pancake.

"Takes care of that." Shad said as he hopped out of the cockpit of the jet.

"So we should begin searching for the entrance now?" Knuckles asked Shadow.

"NO! I'm not finished with you yet!" Sonic screamed as he lifted the debris off of him.

"OH so you're back for more." Knux said. "I've beaten you once and I'll do it again!"

"I'll be using my Chaos Emerald this time." Sonic pulled out a blue emerald. "Chaos Control!"

Sonic used the emerald to move at the speed of light and appear behind Shadow. He kicked him in the back and then teleported behind Knux but Knuckles anticipated it and jabbed him in the face. He stole the chaos emerald and threw it to Shad.

"I'll use this to enhance my power. Chaos Spear!"

The chaos energy hit Sonic right in the face. Shadow kept firing more and more chaos spears at Sonic until he was sure Sonic wasn't getting back up.

He was right. Sonic stayed on the ground.

"Well we should ask around about the entrance to Nightmare City at that restaurant over there." Knuckles said pointing to Mr. Pizza's Burger Shack.

"You just want to go there because you are hungry." Shadow assumed.

"Maybe but we need to start somewhere."

So they went inside and saw a familiar looking yellow mouse sitting at a table eating pie.

"Blade!" Knuckles screamed.

"Oh hey Knuckles! What are you doing here?" Blade the Mouse asked.

"Well we are trying to find the secret entrance to a place called Nightmare City. The entrance is located somewhere in this city. Know anything about it?" Shadow explained and then asked.

"Novar hurr a i." Blade said with his mouth full of pie.

"What did you say?" Knuckles asked.

Blade swallowed the pie. "I said I've never heard of it."

"Oh well. We'll find it I guess." Knuckles said.

"Okay well I've finished my pie so I'll be going now." Blade said as he walked out the door.

_To be continued._

I had special permission from Kindom Rider92 to use his character in this story as a cameo.


	7. Old Files

**Chapter 7: Old Files**

When I left off Knuckles and Shadow entered the restaurant and saw Blade the Mouse. He finished his pie and left but unfortunately, he didn't know about Nightmare City.

"So let's get some food and ask around while we're eating." Knuckles told Shadow.

Knuckles walked up to the counter to get a table. The man at the counter told them what table to go to. They got there and Shadow noticed how huge the restaurant was. Its walls were black and it had pictures of athletes and also trophies. Knux and Shad could tell that the trophies belonged to the owner of the restaurant.

A few minutes later their waiter came. He was a tall, brown armadillo wearing huge, thick glasses.

"Hey, I'll be your waiter for today. My name's Peterhamadilko. Just call me Pete. What would you like to drink today?"

"I'll take some Sprite." Knux said.

"I guess I'll get some Coke." Shad answered.

"Are you ready to order your food?" Pete asked.

"Nope." Knux said.

"Well then I'll be right back with your drinks."

Pete walked off and Knux asked Shad "Who should we ask first?"

"How about that family at the booth over there." Shadow pointed to a five person green parrot family at a nearby booth. The seats on the booth were blue.

"Okay." Knux said. "Hey, you parrots."

"What do you want?" The oldest one, who appeared to be the father, asked.

"Raaaawwwwwwk! Polly want a cracker." The one who appeared to be the wife said.

"Not now, Polly. I'm talking to that echidna over there." The dad said again.

"Raaaawwwwwwk! Okay." The wife said again.

"Okay, well, do you know anything about Nightmare City?" Knuckles asked the man.

"Nope. Sorry." The parrot said again.

"Alright."

Then Pete came back with the drinks.

"Are you ready to order your food yet?" Pete asked.

"I'll have the Salisbury steak and a side of ham." Knux said.

"And for you?" Pete asked Shad.

"Just get me some apple pie. It's good." Shad answered.

"Okie dokie. I'll be right back with your food. And I agree with you, apple pie is delicious!"

Pete walked away.

"So who should we ask now?" Knux asked Shad again.

"That spider over there."

"Hey, Mr. Spider!" Knux called the spider.

"What do you want?"

"Do you know anything about Nightmare City?"

"I've heard of it but I'm afraid I do not know where the secret entrance lies."

"Okay then Bye." Knux started talking to Shadow again. "So Shad, who should we ask now?"

"How about the waiter?"

"Good idea. We'll ask him when he gets back."

Just then the waiter came back.

"Wow you guys sure can cook fast." Knux complimented.

"Well we don't do it alone. We use a Nightmare Emerald. Those are like Chaos emeralds except from the alternate dimension of Nightmaronka. The only way to get to Nightmaronka is through Central City. There's a secret entrance somewhere here." Pete said as he handed them their food.

"What?" Shadow was in awe. "Where is the secret entrance! I must know now! I'm on a quest to figure out… I mean to save Sonic and friends from Dr. Eggman's brainwashing!"

"Figure out what, Shadow?" Knux asked. "Is there something you are not telling me? Well, I know there is because you won't tell me why you are helping me."

"Just never mind. So where is the entrance?" Shadow asked Pete quickly to change the subject.

"I don't know. It is not me who retrieves the emeralds. It is an old man. But he has recently disappeared. We only have one Nightmare Emerald in our possession but if we had more we could cook faster. The old man is the only one who knows how to get to that place in Central City. Others may but we only know he knows." Pete answered.

"Well we need to be leaving now. Do you know where the old man lives?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah he lives in the basement to this restaurant. I can give you two keys to go down there if you must."

"WE MUST!" Knux screamed as he grabbed the keys and ran.

So they entered the basement and saw no sign of the old man. It was dark and cobwebs were everywhere and it was dirty. The only clean thing was a computer in the center of the room.

"Let's check that computer." Shadow said as he signed on.

Shadow researched a bit more and read files. "There seems to be a camera system. Let's check it for the last time the old man was signed on."

Shadow tried to get in but the computer said "Access Denied."

"What? Damn. It's password encrypted. What would the password be?" Knux asked Shadow.

"Let's try Nightmare."

"Access Denied."

"Damn. Let's try Nightmare Emerald."

"Access Denied."

"Damnit! I'm getting pissed. Maybe the password is Nightmaronka."

"Access Denied."

"What is it?" Shadow asked himself.

"Try Nightmare City." Knuckles suggested.

Shadow tried it and "Access Denied."

"I'll try Old Man."

"Access Denied."

"Try Dark Nightmare." Knuckles suggested again.

"Access Denied."

"Worst Nightmare."

"Access Denied."

"Fear."

"Access Granted."

"Yes, we are in." Shadow smirked. "Now let's watch this."

They watched the camera of the last time the man was signed on. He was reading files on Sonic the Hedgehog's adventures. The door opened and someone walked in. The old man turned around and was knocked out. The man who knocked him out walked into the light of the computer and was revealed to be someone working for Eggman.

The man said "I'm taking you back to Dr. Eggman's Central City base. He's at his main base right now. We'll use you to get into Nightmare City and find the Nightmare Emeralds to finally destroy Sonic."

Then the camera went blank.

"So that's how Eggman hypnotized our friends! He learned about Nightmare City somehow and kidnapped the old man and interrogated him to find the secret entrance to Nightmare City. He then got the Nightmare Emeralds except for the one here. He used those to brainwash ours friends and turned them to the dark side. Where is Dr. Eggman's Central City base?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't know but I do know that he wouldn't be there now. That would be stupid because he knows we are in Central City and he doesn't want us to find him. So let's go find the old man and figure out how to get to Nightmare City."

_To be continued._

Next chapter will have a lot of action.


	8. Saving the Old Man

**Chapter 8: Saving the Old Man**

Shadow and Knuckles left the restaurant and saw some Eggbots walking somewhere.

"Cool. I get to fight today." Knuckles smirked as he started to run to destroy the robots. Shadow pulled him back. "Why are you stopping me?"

"Because, the Eggbots are clearly going to the doctor's base so if we follow them we will find his base." Shadow whispered.

"That's a great idea!" Knuckles screamed. The Eggbots heard this and turned around. Shad hid both of them so the Eggbots wouldn't catch them.

"You almost cost us you idiot." Shadow scolded.

"Sorry. Now let's follow them."

Shadow and Knuckles slowly followed. They kept following them for a few minutes until the Eggbots stopped. They stopped in front of a building and walked inside.

"That must be Eggman's Central City base." Knux said as he too walked inside. Shadow followed him inside. As soon as they stepped inside an alarm triggered and Eggbots ran at them. "Oh crap."

"Bring it on you hunks of junk." Shadow said as he started homing attacking the Eggbots. Knux joined in by kicking and punching at the bots.

"There's just too many of them!" Knuckles screamed as he bashed the head plate on one of them in.

"But we have to keep fighting. I'm surprised the doctor hasn't upgraded these." Shadow said. "Well you are right that there are too many of them so…. CHAOS BLAST!"

Shadow's chaos attack took out most of them but then more just poured in there.

"How do they keep coming back?" Knuckles asked.

"There is probably just this many. The doctor always keeps a self destruct button in his bases so we should save the old man, activate the switch, and get the hell out of here."

"Good plan."

Knux and Shad fought there way through room after room and finally found the old man tied to a chair. They ran up to him but were immediately blown away by an unknown force.

"What was that?" Shadow asked.

"Listen. You have to go to the control room. The security blew you away!" The old man ordered.

"Okay." Knux said as he ran out.

"Wait!" Shadow screamed as he followed. "We don't even know where the control room is!"

"We didn't know where this room was but we found it. We can find the control room."

"Good point."

They kept fighting off the robots but they found that they were getting harder and harder. They thought it was just coincidence so they continued to the control room. They finally got to it and shut off the security where the old man was. But then robots flooded the room. They looked no different than the others but they were very, very different. Too bad Knux and Shad didn't know this.

Knuckles punched one really hard and it blew up, along with the others, which created a massive explosion injuring Knuckles and Shadow. It knocked them out cold. When they woke up, they were in the basement at the restaurant again.

"How did we get back here?" Knuckles asked before he saw the old man.

"I brought you here." The old man said. "Thanks for rescuing me. I could've gotten out all along if that security system wasn't there. And by the way, my name's Zoolon."

"Thanks for saving us. How did you do it anyway?" Knux asked.

"Well when you freed me I heard the explosion and knew what happened. I rushed to your aid and saved you by bringing you back here. The reason the robots kept getting harder and harder was a new security system Dr. Eggman invented. See, how it works is every new batch of robots get stronger and stronger. The way more robots get created is that the Eggbot making machine senses when the Eggbots that are in currently get destroyed so it is created to make robots of stronger strength. After the highest level robots get destroyed the machine deploys explosive robots." Zoolon explained.

"Wow." Shadow said obviously admiring the system. "Now we need to get to Nightmare City and we believe you know how to get there. Mind telling us?"

"I can show you the secret entrance but you have to tell me why before I let you."

Knuckles and Shadow explained and Zoolon said "That is a good reason to go. I guess I'll let you. Follow me."

Zoolon led them out of the restaurant and they continued walking for what, to Knuckles, seemed like hours. They finally made it o the edge of Central City and Zoolon led them to a place where ten trees were right in front of a mountain. Zoolon stopped here.

"Trees in front of a mountain? This is the secret entrance?" Shadow asked.

"Don't be ridiculous. Trees aren't entrances to anything. They just hide the cave that leads to the secret entrance."

Zoolon walked up to the trees and easily pushed them aside. They revealed a cave. "Let's go."

Knuckles and Shadow walked into the cave and Zoolon moved the trees back to their original position and they walked to the end of the straight cave.

"How did you move those trees aside so easily?" Knuckles asked Zoolon.

"They were fake." Zoolon answered.

"Oh." Knuckles said. "But this cave is a dead end."

"So it appears." Zoolon. "But the wall right there is really an illusion. We walk through it and we are in Nightmare City of Nightmaronka. Shall we go?"

"Sure." Knuckles said.

They all three walked through and…

_To be continued._


	9. Brainwashed Amy

**Chapter 9: Brainwashed Amy**

They walked through and it was a dark, spooky place. Chills went down Knuckles' back. This place struck fear into the hearts of men. This place had giant tombstones with doors on them for buildings. They wasn't anyone out at this time.

"Where is everyone?" Shadow asked Zoolon.

"This isn't the ritual hour. Something must have happened." Zoolon explained.

"Maybe they are in their houses." Knux guessed.

"Not today. There has to be something going on. We should visit the Sacred Cemetery of Nightmare City, the capital city of Nightmaronka." Zoolon ordered.

They walked for a few hours until Zoolon told Shad and Knux "We have arrived at the cemetery. It appears that everyone is here. But for what, I do not know."

"Do you have any Nightmarian friends?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes but just one. I say we should find him and ask him what is going on." Zoolon answered.

"Well we should hurry. I'm getting a bad feeling." Shadow told the other two.

Shadow looked at the Nightmarians and noticed they looked weird. They were animals and human but they were like black, grey, and dark, dark red colored but they were kind of larger than Earthly animals.

"There he is. Darkno!" Zoolon called out to his friend.

Darkno didn't turn around. He and the other Nightmarians started chanting.

"Darkno!" Zoolon called again. Still no answer. "Darkno! I'm talking to you!" Darkno still didn't answer.

"I'm getting angry." Knux said.

Knuckles walked up to Darkno and reached from him to pull him up.

"Knuckles! No!" Zoolon screamed at him but it was too late. Knuckles had pulled Darkno up from his chanting.

Darkno was a black fox with grey tails. He had grey eyes but they immediately turned red when Knux pulled him up.

"You have interrupted my chanting! The ritual has stopped! Nightmare has ordered me to destroy you and your friends!" Darkno shouted.

"Wait, Darkno! It is me, Zoolon!"

"But you didn't stop your friend from interrupting my chant. You must be destroyed. Nightmare orders me to destroy you all."

"Who is this Nightmare guy?" Shadow asked Zoolon.

"He was the ancient king of the Nightmarians. He was pure evil and he was sealed away by the Great Heroes. Four Nightmarian wizards that could stop themselves by being controlled by Nightmare. Nightmare, the evil king, can control all other Nightmarians with mind control. But the wizards stopped this somehow. Now all good Nightmarians are now evil. All because of the evil Nightmare. He has somehow been resurrected." Zoolon explained.

"I've figured it out. The doctor kidnapped you to figure out how to get into Nightmaronka and when he did, he gathered the Nightmare Emeralds and used them to resurrect the evil king Nightmare and somehow convinced him to use his power to brainwash Sonic and the others." Shadow observed.

"You are very intelligent, young hedgehog." Zoolon complimented.

"Now we should destroy this dude." Knux said charging at Darkno.

"Wait Knuckles!" Zoolon screamed again.

But it was too late… again. Knuckles had punched Darkno. This distracted every other Nightmarian and they came rushing at Shadow, Knuckles, and Zoolon. But in front of them, Amy appeared. She too, had red eyes.

"Well there is the brainwashed Amy. We should take her out, figure out where the doctor's base is, and go there." Shadow pointed out.

"This is gonna be tough." Knux said.

Knuckles and Shadow started fighting off the Nightmarians when Knux was tackled by Amy. He pushed her off and punched her in the face. He was running in but he was kicked away by a Nightmarian.

"Ow. Crap that hurt!" Knuckles said as he picked himself up. But right when he got up he was knocked away. Another one hit him to another. He was being hit around like Tails in Chapter 4.

Nightmarians swarmed Zoolon. And Shadow, thinking that Zoolon couldn't fight but he was just a weak old man, charged at them and started fighting the Nightmarians. He was getting beat around senselessly.

"Shadow! I'll save you!" Zoolon screamed. "Nightmare Blast!"

A blast like Chaos blast except completely black surrounded the area knocking away the Nightmarians.

"How did you do that?" Shadow asked getting up.

"I have a Nightmare Emerald." Zoolon answered.

"But didn't the doctor get those?"

"When he used them, they flew away. I found two and gave one to the restaurant. I kept the other for myself. Now let's get back to fighting." Zoolon explained.

So Zoolon, Shadow, and Knuckles fought valiantly. They put up quite a fight. But they were overwhelmed when all of the Nightmarians attacked. They got knocked out. Knuckles was the first to wake up. He saw that all three of them were in a dark room each in separate cells.

"Where am I? And why does my head hurt?" Knuckles asked himself.

A Nightmarian hedgehog guard walked in and shot something at Knux. It knocked him out again. The guard opened Zoolon's cage and dragged him off somewhere.

Knuckles woke up again and he saw Shadow awake and out of his cell. Shadow was trying to get through Knux' cell to free him.

He finally did and Knuckles said "Thanks, Shad."

"Let's just continue." Shadow said.

They snuck out of that room and into the next. It was filled with Nightmarian hedgehog guards. They snuck around those and went into the next room. They saw Amy standing next to Zoolon who was tied up to a pole. Shad and Knux walked up and listened.

"Fool! You will tell me where you hid the seventh Nightmare Emerald! Supreme Overlord Eggman needs them again!" Amy screamed at Zoolon.

"I'll never tell you where it is!" Zoolon screamed back.

"Tell me immediately!" Amy commanded.

"NO! I said **NO!**" Zoolon yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Suit yourself." Amy said evilly. She then pulled out a Nightmare Emerald that was the one Zoolon used in the fight. She pointed it to the throat of Zoolon. Energy released and the next thing you knew, Zoolon was dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Knuckles screamed in anger. "I am going to kick your pink hedgehog ass!"

Knuckles ran over to Amy instantly without thinking that it would alert everyone. He punched Amy in the face and made her drop the emerald. He picked it up and tried to use it. But no Nightmare energy would come out.

"How do I work this thing?" Knuckles asked himself frustrated.

But before he could figure it out he was hit with a smack to the face by Amy's Pico Pico Hammer. He dropped the Nightmare Emerald and Amy picked it up again. He shot Nightmare spears at Knuckles which hurt him badly. But what she wasn't expected was to be shot by Shadow's Chaos beam to the back. She fell to the ground and guards swarmed the area. Shadow took them all out easily by jumping from guard to guard. He then walked up to Amy again.

"Now tell me, where is the doctor's base?" Shadow interrogated.

"No."

"Then at least tell me why he needs the Nightmare Emeralds again."

"Go to hell!" Amy screamed as she spit in Shadow's face.

"Stupid!" Shadow got angry but before he could do anything he was swiped by Amy's hammer.

He fell back and Amy got up. He jumped back up and started fighting each other fiercely. Amy gained the upper hand by kicking Shadow in the chin. He fell to the ground and just before Amy hit him with her hammer to finish him, she was clunked in the head with a rock.

"Take that you bitch!" Knuckles screamed.

He ran up to her and asked "Where is Eggman's base?"

"I don't know! He only tells his highest people. We are just teleported to different places. You saw me teleport earlier. Now you can find Rouge because she may know but I don't think so." Amy admitted.

"Now tell me why Eggman needs the Nightmare Emeralds again!" Knuckles demanded.

"I don't know that much. I just know he needs them. Now… uuuuhhhhh." Amy passed out.

"Let's go Shad." Knux said angrily. He was still upset about Zoolon dying and all.

"Yeah let's go." Shad agreed. "Wait! We don't know where Rouge is!"

"We'll figure it out."

_To be continued._


	10. Driller's Revenge

**Chapter 10: Driller's Revenge**

Knuckles and Shadow were walking around the base Amy was in looking for the exit. They finally found it and ran outside. They could tell they were in Nightmaronka but they didn't know where in Nightmaronka. Nightmarians immediately surrounded them. They attacked.

Knuckles and Shadow fought them off. Shadow used a chaos blast that killed most of the Nightmarians and Knuckles killed the rest with his fists.

"That was too easy." Knuckles said without lowering his guard.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Shadow said as he and Knux walked slowly through the dark place.

Knux and Shad felt the ground shake after walked for half an hour. They saw Driller's drill come out of the ground. It was a little bigger than last time but it was mostly the same.

"I am going to destroy you both today! I'm not letting you get away again! I don't need to capture you anymore Shadow the Hedgehog! You know too much and must be destroyed! That is what my new master ordered me to do!" Driller screamed from inside his drill.

"Who is your new master?" Knuckles asked.

Driller answered "The almighty Nightmare, true king of Nightmaronka! There are some resistant Nightmarians but they shall be destroyed soon. Now bow to the great King Nightmare or die!"

"We will never bow to that evil king!" Knuckles screamed but to his surprise Shadow bowed. "What are you doing Shadow? You really don't think we can lose to this punk do you?"

Shadow pulled Knux down and made him bow too.

"Fools! I'm not falling for that! If you really do want to be a servant of King Nightmare then prove your loyalty by killing the echidna." Driller ordered.

"As you wish." Shadow said.

Knux got up and backed away. Shadow slowly walked up to him. Knux tripped and landed on his back. Shad approached him and then immediately spin jumped onto the drill. He busted through the cockpit and messed up all the controls. He jumped out, grabbed Knux, and ran. The drill exploded. Driller walked out of the debris. He was tall, muscular, and wore brown from head to toe. He had cloth on all over. He face was covered up. All you could see were his bright red eyes.

"That is what Driller looks like?" Knux asked in surprise.

"I'm gonna kill you both." Then Driller pulled out a Nightmare emerald. "With this! Nightmare Beam!"

A huge, black blast came from the emerald and went straight for Shadow. It hit him and knocked him back. Knux ran at Driller but was blasted away by a Nightmare Beam.

"He's too strong!" Knuckles screamed while he was lying on the ground injured.

"You got that right. I'm gonna kill you both. Are you ready to be tortured?" Driller said with a smirk inside his clothes.

He walked over to Shad and Knux who were still on the ground and the emerald floated above them. Driller walked backwards a distance away from them. A huge blast was let out by the emerald. It engulfed Shad and Knux but Driller walked too far back for it to hit him.

After the explosion was over, Driller walked over and grabbed the emerald again.

"This is fun. Let's start torturing you first, Shadow." Driller said as he made black chains around Shad's limbs and neck. The chains made Shadow hover above the ground.

"What are these chains?" Shadow asked barely able to speak.

"These are Nightmare chains, pure Nightmare energy in the form of chains. Now I'm gonna make them tighter." Driller explained.

Shadow screamed in pain as the chains tightened.

"Now it is time for the torture part. Heh heh heh heh heh. This is gonna be fun."

Driller put the Nightmare emerald between Shadow's eyes. He sent energy into Shad's brain which caused the nervous system to act up and resulted in severe pain all over the body. Driller continued to torture Shadow for the next few hours. He was about to kill Shadow when he was shot in the stomach. He got up and looked at who it was. It was an Eggbot. Around that Eggbot were many other Eggbots.

"My former master Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik sent his Eggbots after me to get revenge for me betraying him, huh?"

"Incorrect." The Eggbot that shot Driller said. "We have been sent to retrieve Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Oh yeah. Eggman does want Shadow for some reason. But I will not let you take him! He is going to be killed not captured!" Driller screamed.

"Resistance is futile." The Eggbot said in a monotone voice.

The Eggbots charged at Driller. Knux got up and freed Shadow. For once they were actually teaming up with the Eggbots so they could kill Driller. Shadow sat down and recovered while Knux helped the Eggbots. The robots were getting easily destroyed because of Driller's incredible power but they were still hurting him some. Driller finally used the Nightmare Emerald and blasted all of the robots into scrap metal. While the smoke was still clearing Knux leaped at Driller and punched him in the face. It knocked Driller out of the smoke and Knux leaped at him again. This time he was swatted down by Driller.

"You are going to die, echidna!" Driller screamed as he shot a nightmare beam.

Knuckles dodged it and punched Driller again. Knux unleashed massive attacks against Driller until he accidentally punched the Nightmare Emerald. It activated it and created a small explosion affecting only Driller. It hurt Driller and then teleported him away. Knux fainted from exhaustion. A few hours later he was awoken by Shadow. They went over to the debris of Driller's drill.

"So, the hypnotized Rouge is somewhere in Darkness Palace which is in Darkness City. SO we need to find Darkness City." Shadow examined.

"Good idea. First we need to find out where we are now." Knux said.

_End of chapter._

Sorry for the delay of posting this chapter. I had writer's block on this story.


	11. Trip to Darkness City

**Chapter 11: Trip to Darkness City**

Knuckles and Shadow started finding out their location. They walked around endlessly for hours and hours. They eventually arrived upon a small village. Inside were a bunch of Nightmarions. Except they looked different from all the ones Knux and Shad had been fighting. They were a lighter shade of color and they had lighter eyes. Some even had blue or green eyes.

"These must be the good Nightmarions." Shadow observed.

They walked through the city but were suddenly stopped.

"Halt. Who goes there?" A large, tall, alligator Nightmarion with sharp teeth, greenish gray scales, and green eyes said.

"I am Knuckles the Echidna and this is Shadow the Hedgehog." Knuckles answered.

"You may pass but we are watching you." The alligator said as he walked off.

Shad walked up to another Nightmarion. The one he walked up to was a grayish brown hedgehog a little bigger than Shadow. He had hazel eyes and black shoes.

"You there, hedgehog." Shadow called out.

"What do you want?" The Nightmarion asked.

"What is the fastest way to Nightmare City?"

"The fastest way to the capital is by jet but only the king and his royal servants can use those unless in need of emergency." The hedgehog answered.

"The king, you mean King Nightmare?"

"No way! I don't bow to that piece of trash! We _are _in a war with him right now."

Shadow was confused. "Then who do you bow to?"

"King Fright is who I bow to. He is the king of this village." The hedgehog responded.

"What village is this?"

The hedgehog shook his head. "You must be new around here. This is the village of Dayfright. Why are you asking so many questions?"

Shadow explained to him his quest and all the adventures he had went through thus far.

"Wow that's a lot. I'd be happy to help you out on your quest. The name's Blur." The hedgehog said as he extended his hand for a shake.

"Thanks." Shadow said as he accepted the handshake. "I'm Shadow."

Knuckles now walked up to them. "Who's this guy?"

"I'm Blur."

"I'm Knuckles."

Knux, Shad, and Blur continued talking until sounds of an explosion could be heard. All three got battle ready. Evil Nightmarions swarmed Dayfright and the two armies battled. Nightmare energy was everywhere with more and more coming every second.

"They outnumber us by a long shot!" Knux screamed to Shad from a distance.

"Just keep fighting we will definitely win!"

Blur was dodging attacks and then spin dashing. He battled like Shadow and Sonic. That is, until he let out a powerful beam from his mouth. It obliterated a lot of evil Nightmarions easily. Knux was in awe.

"I can't believe it. How did you do that?" Knux asked.

"I had a lot of Nightmare energy training early on. I can now shoot out Nightmare energy from my mouth at will but if I'm not using an emerald it drains a lot of my energy. Cover me while I rest up for a bit."

Knuckles did just that. He punched, kicked, and threw enemies at each other. The Nightmarions didn't know what hit them. Until Knux got blasted right in the chest with a small but incredibly powerful nightmare blast. He fell to the ground clutching his chest with his right hand.

He was about to get blasted again but this time would be fatal. Right before he was he was picked up off the ground by Blur running so fast he looked like a blur. He took Knux to the infirmary to rest up because he knew he was going to be safe there. Then Blur ran out and started fighting again.

After a few minute the evil Nightmarions started attacking the infirmary. They knew there were a bunch of injured heroes in there so if they could destroy it they would hurt the good side terribly. Shadow and Blur knew that Knux was inside so they rushed over to it. But they weren't fast enough. The infirmary blew up and everyone and everything inside was destroyed.

"**NOOOOOOOOOOO**!!!!!!!!!! Knuckles!!!!" Blur screamed. "I only just met him but he seemed like a great friend."

Shadow had an evil glare. He clenched his fists at the death of Knuckles. "They will pay for this. They will most definitely pay. Knux was the closest thing to a friend I ever had besides Maria. King Nightmare will die at my hands. I promise you, Knuckles, you will be AVENGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Shadow screamed in anger. He charged and attacked the evil Nightmarions ferociously. He let out chaos spears, chaos blasts, and all kinds of chaos energy. But even with his rage and Blur's anger, the heroic Nightmarions were losing the battle.

That is when the King arrived. Blur stared in awe.

"We must really be in trouble. The king never fights battles unless it is serious. King Fright is going to help us win the battle! Yes! Victory is gonna be ours!"

King Fright was a large elephant with black skin, gray eyes, and a golden crown. He started spinning his trunk around killing or severely injuring all who were hit. Then he started stabbing Nightmarions with his tusks. A bunch got stuck and he had to pull them off. Then he let out Nightmare energy and attacked with it.

But even he could stop a missile going 600 mph straight for him. But this was no ordinary missile. It was a nightmare missile, a missile made of nightmare energy. It hit King Fright and blew him into the sky. He came down with a bang. More and more nightmare missiles were shot.

Blur was scared. His king had just got hit with a missile. He ran to Fright.

"King Fright, King Fright!" Blur called out shaking him. "Get up! We haven't won the battle yet! We need your help!"

Fright opened his eyes. "Blur…. You were a great soldier. I am not going to make it. Get out of here as fast as you can."

"Don't say that! You will live! I'll just take you to the- oh wait it got blown up." Blur said sadly.

"No…there is no hope. This battle and this village will be destroyed. You must escape."

Shadow heard this and raced over to Blur and Fright.

"May we use your jet to escape?" Shadow asked.

"Sure. Now Blur…. Goodbye." Those were King Fright's final words. He passed away right then.

"No." Blur said sadly. "**KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGGGGG FRIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**"

"Come on Blur we gotta go." Shadow said pulling Blur into the jet, which was about to get destroyed.

Shad and Blur flew off.

"Can you lead me to Darkness City?" Shadow asked.

"Just let me pilot it." Blur said as he took the controls.

In a few minutes they had arrived at Darkness City. They landed and got out of their new jet. There were many tall, tall skyscrapers. It looked just like a regular city except that it was filled with Nightmarions instead of regular humans and animals.

Shadow looked around and was in awe. It wasn't the city, as he had seen many like this before. It was the sight of one he thought was dead, Knuckles.

"Knuckles!" Shadow and Blur screamed as they reunited with him.

"There you are I've been waiting for a while." Knuckles said calmly.

"How did you survive the explosion?" Blur asked.

"And how did you get here so fast?" Shadow asked.

"Well, while the infirmary was getting attacked they sent as many of the injured Nightmarions into the teleporter as they could. They all ended up here. I was one of those. So let's go look for Rouge." Knux explained.

_End of chapter._

Sorry for the incredibly long wait. I had no motivation but I have finally finished chapter 11!


End file.
